Already waiting on one major life event — the birth of his first child with wife Courtney Force — IndyCar driver Graham Rahal had to deal with a possibly life-changing fire during a Monday that he said was “the scariest day of our lives.”
Rahal said the Force family was evacuated from their Southern California residence because of the Blue Ridge Fire that has raged around the Yorba Linda area and burned nearly 200 acres.
According to a tweet from the Orange County Fire Authority, nearly 200 firefighters were trying to contain the Blue Ridge Fire, which so far had consumed no structures.
As of early Monday evening, Rahal said it appeared that the Force family compound had been saved by the firefighters after the fire reached the edge of the backyard.
While sending up prayers that their neighborhood would be spared from the fire, Rahal also posted a video that a firefighter took from the family yard of a plane making a pass to extinguish flames.
The fire was part of a busy week for Graham Rahal, who rushed to Southern California after finishing ninth Sunday in the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg that concluded the NTT IndyCar Series season.
Courtney Force tweeted photos from a maternity shoot last week and noted she was “nearing the finish line” in becoming a mother. She is due in early November.
Force’s famous racing family, whose patriarch is NHRA legend John Force, is from Southern California.
A USA Today story once described John Force’s $10-million 17,000-square-foot home in Yorba Linda as having majestic views that stretched to the coast.
